This op-ed in the NYTimes this morning by Prof. Greg Hampikian, Boise State University in Idaho, has written a must-read masterpiece of weaponized snark. The Idaho legislature has a bill pending that would allow students on campus to carry guns. A taste...

BOISE, Idaho — TO the chief counsel of the Idaho State Legislature:

In light of the bill permitting guns on our state’s college and university campuses, which is likely to be approved by the state House of Representatives in the coming days, I have a matter of practical concern that I hope you can help with: When may I shoot a student?
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I have had encounters with disgruntled students over the years, some of whom seemed quite upset, but I always assumed that when they reached into their backpacks they were going for a pencil. Since I carry a pen to lecture, I did not feel outgunned; and because there are no working sharpeners in the lecture hall, the most they could get off is a single point. But now that we’ll all be packing heat, I would like legal instruction in the rules of classroom engagement.
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I assume that if a student shoots first, I am allowed to empty my clip; but given the velocity of firearms, and my aging reflexes, I’d like to be proactive. For example, if I am working out a long equation on the board and several students try to correct me using their laser sights, am I allowed to fire a warning shot?

The Texas state Democratic Party is distancing itself from a senatorial candidate currently leading in a party primary despite being decried by party leadership.

The Hill reported on Monday that self-identified “LaRouche Democrat” Kesha Rogers was revealed as the front-runner among Democratic challengers taking on incumbent Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) in a poll released by the University of Texas-Austin and the Texas Tribune.

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Rogers is a follower of perennial political gadfly Lyndon LaRouche, who mounted seven unsuccessful presidential campaigns between 1980 and 2004. He was convicted of fraud in 1988 and was paroled after serving five years of a 15-year sentence. LaRouche is the object of veneration by a small movement that some have characterized as a political cult.

Rogers’ platform includes calls for the impeachment of Obama, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and the re-institution of the Glass-Steagall Act. According to the Texas-based Burnt Orange Report, Rogers released a video in 2012 depicting Obama with an Adolf Hitler-styled mustache, which includes the line, “His doctor should administer some pentothal of sodium,” referring to the chemical used in lethal injections in prison.

Despite receiving less funding than opponents David Alameel and Maxey Scherr, not to mention the lack of party backing, the poll showed 35 percent of respondents said they were more likely to vote for Rogers, compared to 27 percent for Alameel and 15 percent for Scherr.

“That poll was, to put it bluntly, nonsense,” a spokesperson for Alameel’s campaign,Suzie Dundas, told The Hill. “Our internal results are showing us doing very well.”

Number of hate groups jumped dramatically since President Obama took office but this year marks a slight drop from 1,007 in 2012 to 939 in 2013
California has the most with 77 groups followed by Florida with 58 and Texas with 57
Hawaii is the only state without a single known hate group

By Meghan Keneally

PUBLISHED: 16:16 EST, 3 March 2014 | UPDATED: 16:48 EST, 3 March 2014

A revealing new map has made it clear where hundreds of hate groups are based in the United States, showing how racist and radical groups are still largely found in the South but the number of groups has multiplied dramatically since President Obama too office.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has released a 'hate map' last week which shows the national distribution of the various groups that they could confirm.

The overall number of groups actually dropped from 1,007 in 2012 to 939 in 2013- the last full year with available data- but one of their more troubling observations is that some of the far-right leaning groups have had their ideologies picked up by conservative Republican politicians.

‘The idea that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, among others, is being plugged by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). Last November, U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) suggested the president was using the Affordable Care Act as cover to set up a “secret security force,”’ the report states.

‘Earlier in 2013, U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas), echoing many Patriot groups, falsely claimed that a proposed United Nations arms treaty “set the stage for confiscation on a global scale.”’

The SPLC, which focuses much of its work combating racist groups, said that the lack of clear legislative victories for the Obama administration on gun control in the wake of Sandy Hook and the upcoming immigration reform battle appear to have effectively calmed some of the far-right groups.

‘Those factors, along with the collapse or near-collapse of several major groups for a variety of reasons, seem to have taken some of the wind out of the sails of the radical right, leaving the movement both weaker and somewhat smaller,’ the report states.

Many states have varying bands of hate groups, but for their map, the SPLC qualified them into eight categories: black separatist, neo-confederate, Christian identity, racist skinhead, white nationalist, neo-Nazi, Ku Klux Klan and general hate.

There is only one state- Hawaii- that has no known hate groups but a vast majority of the rest can be found below the Mason Dixon line.

The 11 states that make up the area between Texas and the Atlantic are home to 589 of the 939 active groups that the SPLC identified- a whopping nearly 63 per cent.

Though Florida hosts 58 groups and Texas has 57, they do not take the top slot this year.